Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 16: Heavy Troops Deployed
It turned out that the Spanish were not good at shooting and did not know how to correct for the wind. The bullets were blown by the wind and fell on the empty space on the left side of the position. Lin Fei laughed in his heart: "It turns out that these Spanish are such idiots! What else do I have to worry about?"
Lin Fei was greatly encouraged by the thought. He fired three shots in a row, killing the three Spaniards. Then he shouted loudly: "Brothers, these Spaniards are all idiots. We are sure to win!"
The soldiers cheered in unison, and their guns seemed to be more accurate. Major Raul saw his men falling one by one, and soon more than 30 of them died. He shouted loudly: "Retreat, retreat, return to the ship."
The other Spaniards were also frightened. When they heard the order, they ran back to the troop transport ship. The troop transport ship did not dare to stay for long and fled far away at full speed. Lin Fei saw the Spaniards fleeing and shouted, "Don't shoot! Come on, follow me to pick up the equipment."
Lin Fei led everyone to the beach and killed all the wounded without leaving any alive. After counting, he found that he had killed 36 Spaniards in total and seized 45 intact rifles and more than 2,000 bullets.
Lin Fei smiled and said, "It's great that we can kill so many enemies in the first battle! But we must not be complacent, because a more difficult battle is coming soon! The next time, it will not be the guards composed of Spanish gangsters, but the elite Spanish regular army! We must intensify our archery training."
Everyone agreed. At the same time, Major Raul on the sea said to Colonel Dennison with a sad face: "Colonel, I regret not listening to you. We underestimated the enemy when we landed, and many people were killed by those pirates..."
Denison said, "I told you long ago that these pirates are very powerful! Now I have no choice but to go back to Manila to find my boss and ask him to ask the Spanish regular army stationed in Manila to go out and wipe out these guys and take back the plantation!"
Major Raul said, "Our boss has several plantations on Babuyan Island with hundreds of guards. Why don't we go find them?"
Denison shook his head and said, "These guards are all hooligans and scoundrels . They don't train seriously. They are good at bullying unarmed natives, but they will be doomed if they meet someone who can fight! We can only find regular troops!"
Major Raul didn't say much and sailed to Laoag City on Luzon Island. Laoag City is the most important industrial and commercial city in the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Colonel Dennison's boss Fernando lives here. Since the plantation has no telegraph or telephone connected to Luzon Island, Fernando doesn't know that his plantation has been changed to "Lin".
Colonel Dennison quickly found his boss Fernande, a bald fat man who was also a gangster in Spain in his early years. He was engaged in petty thefts. Later, he made a fortune and came to the Philippines to "pan for gold". Now he is one of the richest men in the Philippines.
When Fernando had money, he made friends with Spanish dignitaries, and even the Governor of the Philippines was close to him. Otherwise, he would not have been able to equip his guards with the Spanish Army's standard Mauser M1893 rifles. When Colonel Denison arrived, Fernando was enjoying dinner. The chef from Shandong, China, carefully prepared authentic Chinese Shandong dishes for him, such as sweet and sour carp, scallion-fried sea cucumber, and nine-turn large intestine.
Fernande was surprised to hear that Colonel Dennison had come, so he asked Dennison to come in. Dennison looked pale after being injured, and Fernande saw it at a glance and asked, "What's wrong with your face? Are you feeling unwell?"
Dennison unbuttoned his clothes, revealing the gauze on his chest, and said, "The plantation was robbed by pirates, and the pirate leader stabbed me in the left chest. Fortunately, my heart is on the right side."
Fernande was so surprised when he heard this that he dropped the knife in his hand. He said, "Were you robbed by pirates? How is that possible? You have a hundred people and a hundred of the most advanced rifles in the world! How could you be robbed by pirates?"
Dennison sighed and told Fernand what had happened. Of course, he also told about the counterattack with Major Raul, which failed and more than 30 people , but he avoided talking about Chiyomika. Fernand frowned after listening to Dennison's narration. Ten minutes later, he said, "Come with me to Manila immediately. I must meet with Governor-General Sanders."
Denison was surprised and said, "Boss, they are just a bunch of pirates. Why do we need to go see Mr. Sanders?"
Fernande said, "From your account, I can hear that in order to deceive you, the pirate leader got a British secretary and a Japanese wife, and bribed a Chinese businessman. Do you still think that the people who did these things are pirates?"
Dennison's face changed drastically, and he said in a trembling voice: "Could it be that the person who did these things is Katipunan?"
Fernando laughed and said, "The Katipunan people can only post slogans and distribute leaflets. Can they accomplish something so big?"
Denison looked confused and asked, "Who did this?"
Fernande laughed loudly and said, "I don't know either."
Denison was even more confused and asked, "Since you don't know who did this, what will you say to the Governor?"
Fernande smiled and said, "Who cares? Just say it was Katipunan who did it."
Denison asked hurriedly, "But you just said that it couldn't have been done by Katipunan."
Fernando smiled sinisterly and said, "If someone else did this, we would have to pay for the army, but if it was the Katipunan, then we would be exempt from paying! The Katipunan have been making a lot of trouble recently, and the Governor is anxious to kill a bunch of them to establish his authority!"
Dennison gave Fernando a thumbs up and the two went to Manila to meet the Governor. After two days of travel, Fernando finally arrived in Manila and asked to see Governor Sanders.
Sanders didn't want to see the guest, but Fernando was his big money sponsor, so he couldn't refuse to see him, so he invited Fernando in. After Fernando came in, he said without a word, "Governor, Katipunan has occupied Ibayat Island!"
Fernand's words were like a hand, pinching Sanders' heart hard. Sanders asked hurriedly, "What's going on?"
Fernand called Denison over and asked him to tell him what happened on Ibayat Island. Sanders was stunned and asked doubtfully, "Is the Katipunan's fighting power so strong?"
Fernando said firmly: "Mr. Governor, please immediately dispatch the Spanish Royal Army and Royal Navy stationed in Manila to expel the Katipunan on Itbayat Island!"
Sanders slammed the table and said, "Yes, the Katipunan actually dared to occupy an island directly. If we don't get rid of them, I think Manila will be theirs! I will give orders to the garrison and ask them to prepare immediately to attack Itbayat Island."
Just like that, when Lin Fei had just occupied Ibayat Island and had not yet established a firm foothold, the Philippine Governor Sanders was about to dispatch a large army and navy to attack Lin Fei, and Lin Fei was completely unaware of this matter.
After Lin Fei led the crowd to repel Major Raul's attack, he thought to himself: "I killed so many Spaniards, they will definitely not give up. The top priority now is to deal with the Spanish attack. There is no strategic depth on the island. If we want to stop them, we can only develop a batch of weapons."
Lin Fei first called Chen Jingui over and said, "Ibayat Island is not far from Taiwan. Have you ever been to Taiwan to do business?"
Chen Jingui smiled and said, "Of course I have been to Taiwan. It is only a day's journey from Ibayat Island to Taiwan's Takao Port."
Lin Fei said: "Then can you go to Taiwan and buy some things for me?"
Chen Jingui's legs started to tremble again when he heard this. He said, "You can't buy guns and cannons! Taiwan is under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and Taiwan Governor Shao Youlian has strict control over trade."
Lin Fei smiled helplessly and said, "Who said I want you to buy guns? Go buy me some saltpeter. You know saltpeter, right? It's a Chinese medicine."
Chen Jingui looked as if he had suddenly realized something and said, "I see. You want to make gunpowder, right? I've heard of the formula for gunpowder: one part sulfur, two parts nitrate, and three parts charcoal. The nitrate is saltpeter."
Lin Fei burst out laughing and said, "What the hell is black powder! Do you know how low the explosive power of black powder is? If I use black powder, I might as well go back to Japan and die."
Chen Jingui asked: "If you don't make black powder, what do you want to make?"
Lin Fei glared and said, "Can you understand what I'm telling you? You won't understand even if I tell you. Why are you asking so many questions?"
At this moment, Lin Fei heard a childish voice behind him: "Captain Lin, I think it would be better for me to go to Taiwan to buy saltpeter."
Lin Fei looked back and found that the person who spoke was Chen Fu. He couldn't help but smiled and said, "Can you go?"
Chen Jingui said hurriedly, "Yes, yes, yes. My son is mature beyond his years, better than me. He also knows those Taiwanese businessmen. It would be a good idea to let him go! I won't go because I still have to teach the natives to speak Chinese."
After hearing what Chen Jingui said, Lin Fei sent two sailors to follow him to buy saltpeter.
Lin Fei also comprehensively stipulated the standards for weights and measures, using "grams" and "kilograms" instead of "jin" for weight, and "seconds", "minutes" and "hours" for time. With new weights and measures, tools are needed to determine specific values. Lengths are determined using rulers and vernier calipers; weights are determined using balances, weights and scales; and time is determined using clocks. Fortunately, the Spaniards equipped the technicians with these things, so they can continue to be used.
Liu Daming complained about Lin Fei's standardization of weights and measures: "Why bother with those things? They don't affect killing the enemy!"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "You don't understand this, right? Weights and measures are the foundation of industrial society. Only with industrial society can we manufacture weapons and equipment on a large scale, and use them to kill the enemy!"
